


Meeting Again (Jasico Fanfic)

by orphan_account



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Human, Bianca is alive, Depression, Drinking, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Minor Character Death, Nico is happier, Physical Disability, Slow Build, Smut, agendered!Will, aromantic!Annabeth, awkward crushes, nico talks dirty in Italian
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-31
Updated: 2015-06-20
Packaged: 2018-02-15 14:46:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 19,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2232903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>MORTAL AU<br/>Jason's the attractive waiter at Nico's favorite Italian restaurant, and Nico can't help himself to what comes after dinner. After waking up in Jason's apartment the next morning, Nico panics and runs before his blonde lover wakes up. What happens when they meet again?<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

NICO

I pushed the doors of Carrabba's and the scent of garlic and cheese hit my nose. God, I love Italian food. This restaurant, although I went to it every other week, was always something I looked forward to and it never seemed to get old. Maybe it was the cute waiter I'd been stalking every time I've been here for a few weeks now.

The waiter, whom I'd named Chad, was a blonde guy with a decent amount of muscles and stunning electric blue eyes. He was probably the softie football player in high school. The sweet guy that girls swooned over, the honest scholar and outstanding athlete, the guy everybody seemed to like. He must have had a hell of a good time in high school.

I awkwardly asked the hostess for a table for one. I've done this for months and I still hate doing it. Getting a table for one isn't common for most people and it's a frequent reminder of my status as single. The hostess smiled since she knew me from my frequent visits here, but I bet she was wondering why I was always alone when I came here. Well, one time I brought Hazel and Frank, but that's besides the point. She led me to my table and told me my server would be with me in a moment. I hoped it was Chad, but I doubted it was. I've leaned over the hostesses podium a million times to see where Chad was stationed, and although he'd always been close enough to my table that I could steal glances at his fine ass, he was never stationed at my own table. I'd even memorized the waiter's station map thing, but right then I couldn't place who worked the table I was at in my head.

Finally, while I was looking at my menu, I heard footsteps approach the table above all the noise of idle chatter. My waiter must be here.

I looked up and I saw Chad standing right at my table. "God? Is that you?" I murmured. Chad tilted his head as a gesture to silently ask what I'd said, but I offered no answers.

"Hello, and welcome to Carrabba's. I'm Jason and I'll be your server tonight. Can I ask what drink you'd like?" Chad said. Wait,  _Jason_? His name was Jason? I was so sure he'd looked like a Chad and now after I'd been calling him Chad for weeks I hear his real name.

Jason.

It  _was_  cute, though.

I smiled and said, "I'll have anything with alchohol, thanks." Jason's eyes widened enough for me to notice, but I could tell he was trying to hide his surprise. I still looked 17 despite being 22. I pulled out my wallet and handed my ID to him. He nodded his head as he looked between me and the card. He smiled as he handed back the card and I pulled my wallet out to put the piece of plastic back in its place. When I looked up, he was gone.

Jason. What a lovely name.


	2. CHAPTER 1

JASON

I walked back to the kitchen to fill up a small glass with wine. I stole a glance at the guy sitting at the table for one and my heart got a pain. He seemed nice enough, why was he so alone?

I decided to go back and talk to him since he was the last table I had to serve before I got off my shift. I returned to the table with the dark-haired boy and poured the wine into a wine cup. He looked up at me with an expression I couldn't place. It was too guarded to decipher.

I smiled and said, "So, what's your name, if you don't mind me asking?"

The guy smiled and said, "Nico, it's Italian."

Nico.

A horrible, dirty thought came into my head of Nico whispering Italian into my ear and I shifted uncomfortably on my feet. Nico smiled and waved his hand to the empty seat across from him. "Sit down, Jason. Well, unless you'd get fired."

"No, it's okay. I actually got off a minute or two ago, I just have to finish this table, then I'm off."

Something about what I said excited Nico. His eyes widened and his head tilted slightly as he brought his arms to rest on the table. "Oh," was all he said.

I took a seat at the table and we talked whenever I had the time to. I still had to check on Nico's food and get him refills and such, but I felt as if we had become friends of sorts.

***

After many conversations and two glasses of wine later, Nico was pretty tipsy. When he finished his food and payed, he was about to walk off to his car. "No no no," I said, "you're a bit too drunk for that. Let me drive you to my house, okay?" I knew it wasn't safe to invite a stranger home, but I wasn't about to let him drive himself home.

Nico smiled and thanked me as he plopped down on the stool at the waiting area. I went to the kitchen and through the door into the employee area. There were boxes of different foods and kid's menus lined up along the walls and hooks drilled into a wall for servers and chefs to hang up their aprons. There was a clock out station where I ran my employee ID through and it beeped, signalling I was clocked out of my shift for the night.

I walked back out to find Nico leaning against the doorway with a cheeky smile. I smirked back and led him back to my car. It was a vintage blue Mustang that had been in my family for a while. My uncle had been saving it for me for years since he had found out that my mom was pregnant. He was going to get rid of it, but he had kept it nice for me.

Nico whistled appreciatively at my car. He must have a nice taste in vintage cars. I pulled my keys out out of my pocket and jumped over the door of the car and into the seat. The hood was removed so I've just jumped in since I first got the car. Admittedly, there were often times some mess ups and, many painful scars later, I'd perfected jumping over the door.

Nico reluctantly crawled over the door and into the seat. Right, he didn't know how to jump over... 

***

When I got to my apartment complex, I stopped the car and led Nico up the steps to my apartment, unit 505. I unlocked my door and Nico shuffled inside and sat gingerly on the couch. I grabbed a beer out of the fridge and sat next to him on the couch. I flipped on a movie and sipped my beer as Nico watched. I think World War Z was on, but my brain was becoming foggy because I'd absentmindedly sipped beer after beer as I watch Nico watch the movie.

I remembered we talked for a while during the movie, and through our drunkenness we found out we had a lot of common interests. A while after the movie ended, and I can't remember how we came to this for the life of me, my lips became pressed to Nico's neck, nibbling and sucking too hard, probably. I knew it was wrong somewhere in the back of my mind, but I ignored the feeling.

Nico moaned as his arms wrapped around me. Then, my lips found his. I could taste the sauce on his tongue from dinner and I  _loved_  it. I pressed to taste the wine he had and it was like a taste I craved, one I couldn't seem to live without. Nico, in the mix of things, had lost his shirt. Eventually, I did too.

I kissed up and down his bare stomach as his arms grabbed at my back. I kissed his lips a few times before I went back to his stomach, licking and kissing and sucking. Eventually, my jeans were torn off by fumbling hands and I worked Nico out of his own too. I kissed on his stomach right above his waistline and I sucked on his skin as he made moans and groans.

After a minute of enjoying the sounds Nico made, I picked him up off the couch and carried him into my bedroom. I regret ever bringing Nico home, but, at the time, all that was on my mind was that I was getting laid. I'm still ashamed of myself for doing what we did.

NICO

The next morning, I woke up naked in a Jason's bed. My head was pounding and I was surely hungover. Next to me, was the gorgeous blonde whom I'd done what I'd always wanted to do. But it felt different than how it had played out in my head. It felt... wrong. It felt dirty.

I felt like I had just tainted Jason, this room, this apartment.; everything here, just by doing this.

I inched myself off the bed as I hastily clothed myself and ran outside to find Carrabba's and get to my car.

 


	3. CHAPTER 2

JASON

I woke up in my bed cold and naked with a splitting headache. Everything from last night kept replaying in my mind. Nico's face, the sounds he made, the way he... wait, was he still here? He wasn't in the bed, maybe he'd moved to the couch? He still needed a ride back to his car, it's not like he walked the 5 miles back to Carrabba's.

I walked out of my room, still naked, and saw no Nico in the living room. I kept walking sleepily to the kitchen and saw no Nico there either. I checked the bathroom and even the closet and Nico was nowhere to be found.

I pressed my hand to my forehead and groaned as the realization of what I did last night set in. Had I really just had casual sex with the stranger I'd picked up at  _work_? God, my life is practically a porno.

NICO

After two hours of searching and many awkward visits into stores to ask for directions, I finally found my car in the parking lot of Carrabba's. It was a miracle it wasn't towed. I grabbed my keys out of my pocket and ran to the door as I clicked the unlock button. I was so grateful to be in my car and not lost or at Jason's apartment. Who know's how awkward it would have been if I had stayed until he woke up.

I sighed as I turned the key in the ignition. I winced as the radio played loudly and turned down the volume knob as I backed out of the parking lot. I pulled out of Carrabba's and onto the road back to my own apartment.

***

When I got home I immediately took a shower. I had to get the since of wrongness off of me. When I got out, I walked into my room with my towel wrapped around my waist. I pulled my clothes out of my drawer and threw them on. I threw my towel into the hamper as I made a mental note to bring the dirty clothes to the laundry room downstairs. I dug into my pocket for a few quarters and sat them near the hamper so I'd remember to grab some change before I left.

Just then, my phone rang. I walked over to it to see who was calling as Highway to Hell blasted from the phone.

 **UNKNOWN**   **CALLER**

I grimaced and reluctantly picked up as a smooth, familiar voice on the other end said, "Nico?"

"Jason? You'd you get this number?!" I said, barely avoiding yelling.

"Funny story... I know your half-sister apparently. Hazel Levesque. She gave me your number because I said we were friends," he replied sheepishly.

"Really Jason? How'd you manage to find my sister?"

"I went to the same college she's in now. When I was a senior she and her boyfriend were freshman. I've stayed in touch with her after I graduated. I brought you up to her when we were on the phone, so she gave me your number. I needed to make sure you got home safe. You  _are_ home safe, I'm assuming?"

"Nope. Not safe. In fact, I'm being kidnapped right now."

"Shut up."

"But seriously Jason, why'd you call?" I said. I was awkward enough I had just done a hit-and-run,but apparently he knows my sister and he's got my number.

"Well, didn't I just tell you why? I wanted to make sure you weren't killed or something. Did you really walk five miles to get to your car?"

"Yea. I run whenever I've got the time, so..." god this was so awkward, "Anyways Jason, I know you couldn't have gone through all the trouble to find my number just for that."

"Fine, I wanted to know if... Well, I want to know if we can start with a clean slate. Just forget what happened yesterday. Neither of us would have done that if we weren't so drunk."

Yea. Of course," I answered as my heart stung. Truthfully, I was more high on ecstasy than alcohol. I was more than capable of stomaching three glasses of wine, but I still stumbled and slurred my words a bit.

"Were you agreeing about the drunk thing or saying you'd give me a clean slate?" Jason asked. I could almost picture his head slightly tilted as he talked on the phone.

"Both, I guess?" I answered.

"Okay, since we've got a clean slate, you wanna go do something tomorrow? Just as friends, to get to know each other." Jason said. He sounded nervous and awkward and I ate it up.

"Sure." I answered.

After I hung up I flopped onto my bed, anxious and nervous. What did I just do? Did I really just decide to go somewhere with the guy I liked  _as friends_?

There is no possible way this'll end well.


	4. CHAPTER: 3

JASON

I sat back on my couch and put my head in my hands. Had I come off creepy? Will Nico actually want to go do something with me tomorrow, or was he just being nice? I groaned loudly and heard my neighbor knocking on their wall. He complains about the noise from my unit all the time, sexual or otherwise.

Not like he can talk, he has recorded at least five shows on animal planet about  _cats_  alone and he turns them up super loud whenever they come on. You can hearing him ooing and ahhing at every moment of the shows. His favorite is "My Cat From Hell" which has some cat expert in it and he cheers every time he comes on screen. Occasionally I'll hear him talking to his cat about how badly he wants to marry that guy and sometimes his fantasies are so vivid I just stare at the wall in disgust.

That guy's a  _ **wackjob**_.

"I'll stop making noise when you stop obsessing over cats!" I yelled at the wall.

"It's not an obsession! Besides, at least I don't have sex so loudly that it's heard through the bedroom  _and_  the living room walls!" a voice replied through the wall.

"At least I get  _laid_  on occasion, Matt!"

He didn't say anything else. Damn straight he didn't, I'd won this argument.

I sat back on the couch and put my hands behind my head. Then, I heard the noise from one of Matt's cat shows through the wall. I laid down on the couch and yelled into one of the pillows while I held another to my ears.

NICO

I groaned as I grabbed a Gatorade bottle out of my fridge. The hangover had surely come into effect now. I took a sip of the drink as I got a rag off of the counter and put it under running water.

I rung out the rag until it was only a little damp and slung it into the sink to use in a minute. I grabbed Ibuprofen out of the cabinet and popped three pills into my mouth. I sipped the blue Gatorade, sloshing around in my mouth before I swallowed the pills. I took another sip of it to rid my mouth of the horrible taste of the pills before I grabbed the rag out of the sink and laid it across my forehead to dull the headache.

I shuffled to my room and took off my clothes, all but my underwear. I threw on a tee shirt instead of what I had picked out to wear for the day. I'd just wear it tomorrow. I grabbed the blanket off the bed and shuffled to the living room. I groaned and flopped down on the couch to take a nap.

***

I woke up and saw sunshine peeking out from behind the living room blinds. My once damp towel was dry and laying next to my arm from where I had improved while I had slept. My hangover was gone, but I'd slept through the entirety of yesterday and into today.

Shit.

I checked the time on my watch and saw it was only ten o' clock, though. I sighed and picked up my phone. I had put Jason's number into the contacts, so I typed his name into the "New Text Recipient" box and his name appeared. I selected his contact and started typing.

**Me: Hey, Jason. I wanted to know when we were going to do something today. You did say today, right? I was thinking we could go drop by the University of San Francisco and see Hazel and Frank. That sound good?**

God, even the text sounds awkward and sexually frustrated. Regardless, I decided to send it since whatever I'd add would only make it worse. Within the minute, I got a response.

**Jason: That sounds cool. I'll pick you up at noon.** **By the way, what's your address?**

My fingers hesitated over the keys for a moment. I didn't want to answer. I didn't want him to know where I lived. But, it was only fair he knew where I lived, since I knew where he did.

**Me: 396 Fairfield drive, Unit 756. Bring food.**

**Jason: Why should I?**

**Me: We had sex and you didn't pay for dinner. It's only fair.**

**Jason: I don't think the same rules apply when both parties are drunk.**

**Me: Buy me food anyway!**

**Jason:** _**Fine.** _ **What do ya want?**

**Me: McDonalds Big** **Mac** **, fries, and a diet coke.**

**Jason: Trying to watch your weight with the** _**diet** _ **coke?**

**Me: Shut up and get over here.**

I didn't get another text for half an hour or so. I used that time to drink some more of what was left of my Gatorade and change into the clothes I had intended on wearing yesterday. All that was running through my head while I waited for Jason was that I was terrified about what came next.

Not just when Jason got here, but after that, too. What would become of us now that our lives has suddenly become intertwined? It scared me to even try to imagine the future.


	5. CHAPTER: 4

**I was having formatting errors on this since I typed a fair portion of this on my phone. As far as I can tell, it's the bolded parts that are messed up. If there's ever a formatting error, tell me. (This is usually where the bolded words have no spaces and are all strung together. When I put a space between the words, it spaces them out a _ton_.)**

JASON

As I walked out of my unit with my bag of clothes for the trip, I thought about Nico. I didn't even know the guy until like two days ago, and now I'm traveling three hours to San Francisco with him. It all seemed so sudden. I made a note to talk to him more while we were driving as I hopped into my car, literally, and started the ignition.

Before I backed up, though, I got a text from Piper. She was my girlfriend in high school for a year or so, but we broke and currently she's dating my childhood friend, Reyna. They're cute, but it gets awkward at parties since they aren't afraid to talk dirty in public.

 **Piper** **:** **You**   **slept** **with** **Hazel's** **big** **brother** **?** **How'd** **you**   **even**   **meet** **?** **I**   **thought** **you**   **said**   **she**   **was**   **going**   **to**   **introduce**   **you**   **two**   **on** **Halloween,** **since**   **it's**   **like** **next** **week** **.**

 **Me** **:** **I** **didn't** ** _know_** **it** **was** **her**   **older** **brother** **when**   **I**   **slept**   **with**   **him** **.** **She**   _ **wa**_ **s** **going** **to**   **introduce** **u** **s** **,**   **but** **...**

 **Piper** **:** **Wow** **,**   **that** **makes**   **things**   **really**   **awkward**   **really**   **fast** **. A** **re**   **you**   **guys**   **coming**   **down**   **to**   **Frisco**   **today** **?** **Nico** **told** **Hazel you guys** **were**   **coming** **to** **see** **her** **,** **why** **didn't**   **you** **tell** **me** **?**

 **Me** **:** **It**   **was**   **going** **to** **be** **a**   **surprise** **.** **And**   **y** **ea** **,**   **I**   **know** **it** **makes** **things** **awkward** **.** **Like**   **what**   **do**   **you**   **say** **to** **someone you slept with and expected to never see again** **? "I** **see that hickey I left three days ago is still there** **. Cool." Like, no.**

 **Piper** **:** **I** _**dar** ** _e_  **_ **you**   **to** **say** **that** **!**

 **You** **:** **No** **!**

 **Piper** **:** **Eh** **,**   **it** **was** **worth**   **a**   **shot** **.**   **Text**   **me**   **when**   **you** **get**   **here** **!**

I smiled and tossed my phone into the phone in the passenger seat. Piper had  _such_  a short attention span sometimes. I backed out of the parking garage and onto the road, I remembered that I needed to tell Nico to pack some stuff for the trip, and reached over the seat to find my phone. I pulled it out and began texting Nico.

 **You** **:** **Hey** **,**   **you** **might**   **want**   **to**   **pack** **some** **stuff**   **for** **the** **trip** **.**   **I'm**   **planning**   **to** **stay** **the** **night**   **in**   **San**   **Fran** **.**

 **Nico** **:** **You**   **suck a** **t**   **planning** **,** **you** **know** **that** **?** **But**   **yea,**   **I'll**   **pack** **.**

I put my car in gear and began to make my way to McDonalds to get Nico some food. I'd decided that I'd get some food for myself too while I was there. When I pulled into the drive thru, the sound or a teenager's voice came from the speaker. "Can I take your order?"

"Yes, I'll have two Big Macs, an order of fries, a Mountain Dew, and a Diet Coke."

"Is that all, sir?"

"Yes, thanks."

"That'll be eleven seventy-four at the window."

I pulled ahead and gave my change to the cashier; he handed me back a few bills and coins, and pulled to the next window while stuffing the change in my pocket. I waited by the window until two bags appeared, followed by two cups of soda.

I grabbed the food, putting the bags in the passenger seat and the drinks in the cup holder. I gave a quick thanks to the person at the window before speeding off. I had to hurry and get to Nico's before the food got cold.

When I finally got there, I parked my car in front of the building and walked inside, carrying his food in either of my hands. When I got inside I saw someone typing away at a computer at the front desk. When I stepped up, he looked up at me with a frown plastered on his hawk-like face. He even had a hooked nose and his blonde hair hung limply at the sides of his head. Despite his grim expression, he had pictures of him smiling with other people and stuffed teddy bears on his desk. "Octavian" was written on his name tag.

"Can I help you?" He said, sounding annoyed.

"Yea," I answered, "I'm looking for Nico do Angelo, do you have which unit he's in?"

"Sorry," he said, clearly not sorry, "but I can't give that information out."

 Just then, footsteps came from the other end of the lobby. Nico appeared and waved his hand at Octavian. "It's okay, he's with me," Nico said. Octavian shrugged dismissively and started typing on his computer again. I handed Nico his bag of food and a cup of Diet Coke, and he took it greedily, waving a fist full of fries as a gesture for me to follow. I followed him up the stairs, though there was an elevator shaft right next to it.

"Don't you have an elevator?" I said.

"Yea," he answered, "but I don't use it. I don't trust those things." I snorted, he sounded exactly like my sister, Thalia. She is absolutely  _terrified_  of those things, as well as heights in general. She doesn't mind escalators, though. He reasoning is that when an escalator stops, it's stairs; when an elevator stops, it's a coffin. I can understand her reasoning, but I've never really been scared of heights or elevators. In fact, I kind of enjoy them. The view is always the best from up high.

Nico turned around when I snorted. He look offended. "What? They're evil!" He said, defensively.

"It's not that," I said, "You just sound like my sister, Thalia. She hates height, too."

"You have  _got_  to me kidding me," Nico said.

"What?" I said.

"When Thalia was a teenager, maybe fifteen, was she in her punk phase? Black hair dyed with blue, leather, combat boots, icy stare? You know, the whole deal?"

"Yea? Why, did you know her? She's still in that 'punk phase', by the way."

"She was my  _babysitter_  when I was a kid. She used to bring a few friends over sometimes.. bt that's not the point."

"She never mentioned babysitting a di Angelo, but, then again she never really spoke about it."

"Well, she did," he said. God, it seems like the more I find out about this guy, the more I find out we had nearly met. Yet, we never did until just a few days ago.

Finally, we reached Nico's floor. He fumbled with the knob for a moment, seeing as his hands were coated in a layer of grease, but he finally wiped his hand on his shirt and them wiped off the knob and he was able to open the door. He sat his stuff on the counter inside on the kitchen and gestured to the whole unit, saying, "Welcome to my humble abode."

I smiled and I laughed a little. My heart skipped a beat when he dropped his hands and laughed, putting his hand on the back of his neck and looking down. His cheeks had a rosy tint and his dark green eyes, maybe they were brown; I couldn't tell, looked up at me. Then, my heart stopped altogether. My eyes widened and I took a deep breath. I don't know what possesses me to just stare for a moment, indulging in the gorgeous look of his eyes when the light hit him, until he snapped his fingers and I blinked. He'd noticed, but he didn't say anything.

"Why don't you go get your bag?" I said. I needed to distract him so he'd forget what just happened. He bought it and held up one finger, turning and walking into another room. He soon reappeared with a duffel bag in hand. I grabbed it and shouldered it, walking out the front door and turning got face him. He grabbed his keys and food and followed me out the door.

I had a gut feeling that this trip was going to be special, that it was going to be a good fresh start. My heart skipped another beat and I smiled to myself. Nico looked over and me and I nodded my head towards the stairwell. This trip was going to be  _fun_.


	6. CHAPTER: 5

NICO

Something was up with Jason, but I couldn't figure out what exactly it was. I pulled out my phone and typed my friend's name into the contact box as I walked down the stairs. "Will" showed up, and I selected it. Will is the agendered person who lives next door, and they're my best friend. They're blonde haired and blue eyed, like Jason, but they are way more chill than him. They used to live with me after they lost their job as a physician and we've been close friends ever since I let them crash on my couch. It's been about three years since Will moved out, and we still haven't lost contact. Whether that's because we live next door, I don't know.

**Me: Hey Will, can you watch the apartment tonight? Just check up on it before you go to bed and again when you wake up.**

**Will: Ughhh, dude I don't wanna!**

**Me: I'm going on a trip with that hot guy from Carrabba's, so you have to.**

**Will: Lies.**

**Me: I'll send you a picture of him to prove how little lies I tell.**

**Will: Please do. Make sure you're in it too and I'll watch the place.**

**Me: You got a deal.**

I had no idea how I was going to prove to Will that I was with Jason without Jason thinking I'm a freak. He'd be suspicious if I just ran up to him and said, "Say Selfie!" and snapped a picture. Maybe I could take a picture of his back as we walked down the stairs. Maybe I could told sneak a picture when we were getting in the car. Maybe I could-

"Nico?" Jason said. 

"Uh, yea?"

"You look... weird. You're just frowning at your phone and your face was all scrunched up and your eyes are all- Uh, what I mean is, are you okay? You look mad, maybe frustrated. I dunno." Jason's face started to blush a bit, and his free hand was scratching the back of his head.

"Yea. Just telling my neighbor to watch the place while I'm gone."

"Oh, alright," Jason said as he turned back around and quickly walked out of the stairwell and into the lobby. Octavian wasn't at the desk, which was a relief, and the sun was shining in my eyes. I put my hand to my face and squinted. I looked over at Jason and saw him doing the same. He gave me a smile for half a second, it was so fast I thought I may have imagined it, and started through the lobby and out towards his rinky dink vintage car.

I crawled over the passenger door and crouched backward in the seat with my phone. My face was scrunched up as I tried to get a well angled picture of Jason. I finally got the phone into position as Jason was trying to wrestle my bag into the trunk and I moved my face so it was positioned near Jason and snapped the photo. In retrospect, this was way more creepy than just asking to take a picture with Jason, but oh well. I got the picture, didn't I?

I sent the picture to Will.

**Me: [One visual media file attached] Suck it, Will!**

**Will: Fine, I'll watch the place. God, how'd you manage to land a guy like that? He is _fine_.**

**Me: We aren't together, Will, you know that. I kind of wish we were though... Anyway, I gotta go. I'm being way too much of a creeper for one trip. See you when I get back!**

**Will: See ya! Hope ya snag him, he looks like a keeper! ;)**

**Me: Shut up and go play your guitar.**

**Will: You know I can't play that old thing. I'm just too lazy to take it back.**

**Me: Oh shit dude Jason's coming back! Gotta go!**

**Will: Who's Jason? Was that the name of the hot guy? I thought he was Chad!**

I didn't answer them back. Jason was glancing suspiciously at my phone already, I didn't need to make him any more suspicious by pulling it out. He looked down in my lap where my phone was and slightly raised one eyebrow, but he shrugged to himself and put his keys in the ignition. He turned up the radio, which was playing 80's and 90's rock, and pulled out onto the street. I had this jittery feeling in my gut, telling me that this trip was going to be something worth taking. It felt like it was bound to be special. It felt like it was going to be life changing, one way or another.

I laid my head own on the door and let the wind blow through my hair as Jason drove. I felt calm. I felt happy. Because of my little escapade with Jason, I had even forgotten about Bianca for a while. It felt good not having all that stress built up in my gut, but I felt guilty for forgetting her. I dispelled the through before it could root itself and closed my eyes as I listened to "Burnin' for You". It was a good song, but I chuckled slightly at the irony. Here I was, going on a trip with my long time crush, and we were just pretending that whatever happened a few nights ago didn't happen. It was all very ironic. I shook my head a little and closed my eyes to take a nap.

_My tongue found Jason's and I felt a gasp rise from my throat. I sucked hard on Jason's bottom lip as we fell onto the couch and he moaned. "Nic-ah! My god..."_

_I pressed my lips to his neck, sucking hard on the tender skin. I kissed up his jawline until I felt him shudder and heard him make a suppressed moan. I'd found his weak spot. I ran my tongue around the spot before pressing my mouth to the skin, nibbling just a little. Jason hurriedly took off his shirt and I ran kisses from his neck down his collarbone and chest and stopped just above his belly button I could feel the heavy rise and fall of his chest and hear the ragged breaths Jason took._

_I hefted myself to lay of his stomach and took his head in my hands and slammed my lips to his. "I love you so much, Jason," I said between kisses._

_"I love you too, Nico. So much," Jason said as he managed to take in heavy breaths and get air._

_I kissed him again, a little kiss, and sat up, positioning myself so I was sitting on his stomach as he was laying down. Jason shimmied himself out of his jeans and yanked the bottom of my pant legs so I fell back and he could pull them off._

_There we were. I was sitting on my lover and we were both in our boxers. Jason had love in his eyes, not lust as it had been when when I first slept with him. He put his hand behind my head and pulled me to his lips as he said, "God, Nico, I didn't know you were so dominant. I kind of like it."_

_I laughed into the kiss and Jason smiled. I sat up and grabbed the elastic of Jason's boxers while he tried to help me get them off. Then-_

"Nico! wake up!" Jason said as he shook me awake. "Were you having a nightmare? You were shaking and yelling in your sleep-"

"Yea, that's it. A nightmare," I said as I put my head in my hands. I wasn't getting over this crush for a long time, I thought.

Jason looked over at me for a moment, but he returned his eyes to the road. "Anyway, Nico, we're like an hour away, so I'd settle back in for another nap."

"No, I'm not tired," I said. It was true, the dream I had woke me up  _big time_.

"We aren't having much traffic," Jason said, "Probably because I got off the interstate though. I know my way to San Fran from here. I grew up here, so I know my around. We shouldn't have much trouble getting there form here."

Just then, the car shuddered to a stop and died.

**I hope you guys liked this one! I was sort of practicing my smut because I suck at writing it and I decided to put it in the chapter because I liked it so... yea. Tell me what you want more or less of in this book! More smut? Less smut? More fluff? More frazel? Less Octavian?**


	7. CHAPTER: 6

NICO

"God dammit," Jason cursed. He jumped out of the seat and walked over to the front of the car. I slid over the door and walked to the trunk to get out some stuff. I grabbed my bag and opened it with a zip. I decided that I could also get my blanket out of the trunk and sit on it, seeing as I'm not going anywhere. The blanket's not like a  _baby blanket_ , it's just a really soft blue blanket that I  _prefer_  to have, since I've never met anyone with a better blanket. Will says it's a lame excuse for a baby blanket, but I'm pretty sure he's just jealous.

I grabbed the blanket and closed the trunk, sitting the fabric on the warm metal. The sun was beating down on me as I inched myself on to the trunk and laid down. My legs were hanging off the edge of the car and my hands were behind my head. I squinted as I stared at the sky and watched the clouds.

"Nico?" I heard Jason say, "Can I maybe lay there for a little while, too? Just for a minute. That just looks really nice."

"Wha? Oh yea, sure. It's not all that special, but I guess it's relaxing. Hop on up."

"Thanks, bud. Besides, I've been meaning to talk to you for some time anyway."

"Oh, okay. What is it?" I said. I knew what he was going to say, but I let him say it. He walked back to the trunk and sat up on the blanket. He laid down for a moment, trying to get his larger body comfortable on the limited space, and when he finally got settled, he spoke.

"We need to talk about what happened."

"What happened when?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

"You know when..." Jason trailed off. He didn't like talking about that night any more than I did.

"Yea, I know. What about it?"

"Why? Why did neither of us stop the other? I mean, I get we were drunk, but I thought I'd have more sense than to just go and do that. Especially to someone so nice. I mean, I know we can move on and pretend that never happened, it's been working well, but sooner or later we have to talk about all of it. I'd rather it be now so it doesn't just explode in our faces after suppressing all of our feelings."

"Truthfully, I don't know why I didn't stop myself," I said, my heart heavy with guilt, "I wasn't near as drunk as you were. For someone who isn't much of a featherweight, you sure get drunk easy. I just wasn't thinking straight. My dick took over instead of my brain. I feel like I used you. I don't even know why we're on this trip together. It's all been kinda sudden..."

Jason didn't say anything for a moment. He nodded and finally said, "Well, I guess we're just going to have to forget the past," He sat up and continued talking as his hand reached out towards me, "I'm Jason Grace, nice to meet you. I work at Carrabba's as a waiter because my acting career didn't take off."

"Really? You were an actor?"

"Yea I was," Jason said dismissively as his cheeks subtly blushed, "Now shake my hand and tell me something about yourself."

I took his hand and shook it, ignoring my increased heart rate. "Hello, I'm Nico di Angelo and I never went to college. I've been writing books and doing odd jobs for years to support myself."

Jason smiled. "Now we're getting somewhere!"

Blush crept onto my cheeks as I put my hand behind my head and smiled a bit. "So, about that acting career..."

"What about it?" Jason asked defensively.

"What did you do? Guest star in TV shows? Extra in movies?"

"I did commercials..." Jason said, his face a bright red.

What's there to be embarrassed about?" I asked. I'd never been on television, why was he so embarrassed when he got to do something most people dreamed of?

"I was in underwear commercials," Jason spat out, "Like, Abercromie and Hollister and stuff."

I put my hand over my mouth as I rolled over on the blanket and laughed. Underwear commercials! This was  _pure gold_! Jason folded his arms, clearly irritated, and got up off the trunk, making the car squeak as the weight was lifted. He walked back over to the hood of the car and started messing around again. All the while, I was still laughing at my mental picture of Jason pouting at a camera in only his underwear. Then again, I thought, it was kinda hot.

I shook my head and took a deep breath to control my laughter. I sat up and peeked over Jason's back as he worked with the gears, searching for the source of the problem. Then, he stood up straight and said, "God dammit. God  _fucking_ dammit! Why now? Why now of all the times this could happen?!"

"What are you going on about, Jason?" I asked.

"One of my contacts just fell out and all I brought for the trip were my glasses. I hate working on the car with my glasses, they fall off my nose after three seconds of looking down! Plus, they make me ugly as  _fuck_. Looks like I have to use them, though... Can you go get them for me? They're in the glove box."

I walked over to the glove box and opened it up. I pulled out the glasses, they were simple black trapezoid shaped ones, and wiped the glass on my shirt before I handed them to Jason.

He put them on and continued his work, pushing his glasses back on his nose every so often. The more I looked at his face with the glasses, the more I decided he was completely wrong about how they made him look. He looked kind of adorable with them on, but of course I knew better than to say that.

For about twenty minutes I watched Jason mess with whatever was going on under the hood, but nothing improved. "Jase," I said, "Just take a break. You can get back to it after you clear your head."

He raised one eyebrow at me for just one moment, but he shrugged and closed the hood.  _He noticed I called him Jase. Oh god._  My cheeks turned pink as he sat down in the grass by the road. He stretched out his legs and propped himself up on his arms. I laid back in the grass and put my arms behind my head as I looked up into the sky again.

"So, Nico. Tell me about yourself," Jason said after a moment of silence.

"What do you want to know?" I asked.

"Just tell me about yourself. I don't care, just anything."

"Are you okay if I go into a dramatic monologue about my past?"

"Only if you're fine that I do, seeign as i know you're going to ask me to do the same."

"Well, yea. it wouldn't be fair if I didn't," I replied. I took a deep breath as I started to walk down memory lane.

"It's a long story," I started, "but seeing as we have nowhere else to go, I might as well tell it all to you."

"Go ahead."


	8. CHAPTER: 7

**Just a heads up, this book is also up on AO3 without the preview chapters (this is on** **Wattpad** **also with more frequent updates because of the preview chapters for you AO3 people). I have the same username there as I do here, so look me up if you want. Thanks** **Wattpad** **readers for my 1,000th read and thanks AO3 for getting me to nearly 2,000 reads! <3**

 NICO

_My head started to reel back a few years to when Will came in my apartment, wet with water from the rain outside and crying. They started to mumble about losing their job at the doctor's office and how they loved it so much and how they didn't know why they were even fired._

"They?" Jason asked, interrupting my flashback.

"They," I replied, "They're gender neutral." Jason nodded his head and kept listening intently.

_I just opened my arms awkwardly and took them into a hug while they cried into my shirt. "Will," I said, "come sleep in my room. You need to rest." They nodded their head and I started to lead them into my room. I got them a change of clothes and helped them into my bed._

_I grabbed a blanket out of my closet so I could go sleep on the couch, my awesome blue one, but Will just threw a pillow at me and said, "Come and stay in here with me, Nikki." I had always liked that pet name they game me. I smiled at them for a moment and then I crawled into the bed, making myself comfortable despite the missing pillow Will threw. I laid flat out while Will laid their head on my stomach and hugged it as they cried into my shirt and I rubbed my hand comfortingly through their wet hair and down their back._

_"I love you Nikki," Will said as they looked up from my shirt and my hand stopped rubbing their back for a moment. He had really caught me off guard._

_"I-I love you too, Will," I said. I didn't know if they noticed that it was the first time we'd ever said we loved each other, but he was already drifting off. I stayed awake for a while longer as I ran my hand through their beautiful blonde hair and under their shirt to rub their back. I kissed their forehead once before I went to sleep._

I didn't tell Jason about anything after me leading him into my room to sleep and getting my blanket. Well, not anything else that was the truth. I just told him that I slept on the couch, but I still remembered vividly what really happened that night as I told him the lie. "Nico?" Jason asked as he tried not to look at me, "Were you and Will ever a thing together?"

My heart stopped and I looked away from the sky and instead at the car. "Yea," I murmured.

"Do you still know him?"

"He's actually my next-door neighbor," I said sheepishly, "but we aren't together anymore," I added quickly.

Jason started to get up and say something to me, but I stopped him by saying, "Maybe you should call Piper and Reyna and tell them we're lost so they can pick us up. I don't think there's any way we will be able to fix the car with our lack of resources out here." Jason just nodded as he sat back down and began typing on his phone for a few minutes. He stood up to find the road sign, we were apparently on Winchester blvd, and he then sat back down and started typing away to the girls again. "Jason," I said after the long awkward silence.

"They'll be here in about an hour," he said back. That wasn't what I was going to ask and he knew it, he just wanted to cut off the conversation as fast as possible. Maybe he was jealous of what Will and I had been? I laughed under my breath at the thought. He'd already pretty much said that he deeply regretted that drunken night and, besides, there wasn't much appealing about me relationship-wise.

"You have to tell me something about yourself now. I told you something important to me, now you."

Jason sighed and looked away and started to tell his story. I could already tell it was more painful than just the memory of an old love before he even started. "Well, when I was young my parents were pretty famous. They were in movies and TV shows and stuff. We were pretty well off, Thalia and I, but we weren't happy at all. Mom was always complaining that Dad didn't love her and that always resulted in a big romantic gesture from him that didn't even mean anything anymore. One time, his big romantic gesture was-" He paused. He didn't want to continue. Jason sat up and hung his head forward. I moved right next to him, so close our sides were touching, and put both of my hands around him and he started to tear up.

"It's okay, Jason, just tell me," I said.

"That big romantic gesture was  _me_. He got mom pregnant and she had me all because he wanted to avoid another one of Mom's drunken rages," Jason said, his voice half filled with malice and the other half a cruel chuckle.

"Thalia," he continued as he wiped his shirt, "was a saint to me. She took care of me better than anyone else ever could. The thing was, she hating living at home. She wanted to run away and find a new home, despite our wealth. She even started babysitting to save up money for us for when we ran away. When I was two and she was, I dunno, maybe seven I accidentally got into Dad's office desk and started chewing on a stapler, it stapled my lip and I started crying my lungs out. Nobody even came to see what was going on except Thalia. She got the staple remover and pulled it out and then called 9-1-1. I was carted off to the ER and got stitches. I still have the scar, ya know.

He pointed to the thin scar that went over both his upper and lower lip. It was so pale, you could barely see it. But if you looked hard enough, you could see it, and I wasn't one to pass up staring at Jason's lips.

"Yea, parents suck," I said.

"Yours do something to you, too?"

"Well, my mom died giving birth to me and my dad sorta went crazy because of it..." I trailed off.

"Ohhh, do tell more!" Jason said.

"Well, my dad had this deep-seeded hated for me ever since I was a kid. I mean, I don't thunk he meant to, but he always fawned over Bianca. He used my mom's money to buy everything for her, my mom was a singer, and he didn't do much for me. I mean, sure I had enough money, but I really just wanted some attention, ya know? Bianca would sometimes ask for expensive things Dad wouldn't buy for me and give them to me after he bought them. One time, he found out what she did and broke what she got, I think it may have been a toy sword, over his knee. It was horrifying. Then, he fell in love with Hazel's mom and had her. Maria died a few years later."

Jason put his hand on my back and patted it awkwardly. I smiled a bit and looked down at my knees before I heaved a heavy sigh and said, "Jason, I want to tell you something, but you have it keep it secret. Even from Hazel, okay?"

"Yea, Nico. Anything."

"You were supposed to say okay, Jason."

"What?"

"I was all like 'okay?' and you're supposed to be all 'okay.' but you just had to be all 'yea, Nico'."

"What?"

"The Fault in Our Stars, Jason."

"I have zero idea what you're mumbling about. Just tell me the thing."

"Right. Well, Bianca also has a certain reason my dad has been giving her all of his and mom's money. It's... it's because she's been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer," I said, my voice grim and serious.

Then, Piper and Reyna pulled up beside the car, honking their horn and yelling at us to get in.


	9. CHAPTER: 8

NICO

"Uh, hey girls..." I awkwardly said as Jason's eyes were wide and his mouth was open, staring at me. It wasn't like that was odd, I'd just dropped a bombshell on him, but Reyna and Piper didn't know that. I don't know what came over me, but I leaned forward and put my hand under his chin and closed his mouth, saying, "Close your mouth, honey, you might get flies," and walked towards his car. I grabbed my bags and carried them over to Reyna's cherry red mustang while the girls wolf-whistled. It was a pretty great moment, if I do say so myself.

 Jason just shook his head and grabbed his own stuff out of the trunk. He put them in Reyna's car and shut the trunk as he got with me in the back seat. "Wait," he said, "what are we going to do with the car?"

"Relax, Jase," Piper said, "we called a tow truck. They're right behind us, okay? Just calm down, we told them where to bring your car." I could see Jason ease up a bit as he fastened his seat belt. I remembered to buckle my own and sat back wile Reyna started to pull forward. I hoped to get back to sleep on the way back, but considering what I'd just told Jason and that crazy dream I heard earlier, I doubted I'd get a wink. "So," Piper said, "you guys wanna play a game?"

"Let's play a game," Reyna murmured in a crazed voice. I had no idea why Jason and Piper chuckled, but I went along with it.

"Anyway," Jason said, getting the conversation back on track, "what game do you wanna play?"

"How about the question game?" Reyna suggested.

"How do you play?" I asked.

"Well," Jason explained, "We just go around and ask questions to the whole group. Preferably, they're awkward, but they don't have to be. But be careful, the asker also has to answer their own question."

"Oh, okay. sounds cool," I replied. It sounded like a good way to kill time, at least.

" _How many times have you have sex before?!_ " Piper asked. She practically attacked us with the question.

"Somewhere around ten," Reyna said with a glance at Piper, who had the same answer.

"Well," Jason said awkwardly, "now I feel inexperienced. I've only got three."

"With who?" Pier asked.

"Well once in high school and another time in college with... you know...  _him_. Then again just a few days ago with Nico. But if you count that one time in sophomore year when you and I almost-"

"I don't. I can't believe I forgot about you and Percy. You guys were so cute, what happened?"

"Percy?" I asked

"He was my first boyfriend. Also, since Piper doesn't count sophomore year, my first time," Jason said plainly. He seemed to have gotten over the awkwardness that usually comes with discussing sex life.

"So," Reyna said, "what's your number?" I didn't even need her to say my name to know she was talking to me. I didn't want to answer, so I decided to make up an excuse.

"Well, since it's the lowest here, I'd rather not say-"

"Spit it out!" Piper interrupted.

"O-once." A silence dropped into the middle of the car. Jason looked like he was disgusted with himself and even looked like he may start crying.

"N-Nico, I'm so sorry," Jason said. I knew he was going to go on and on with this apology of accidentally stripping me of my V-card, but I shut him up.

"No, I knew what I was doing. If it mattered to me if I kept my innocence in tact, I wouldn't have slept with you. I've never really thought about having sex too much. Will was my first long term relationship, last week would've been eight year if we hadn't broken up, so there haven't been many opportunities or reasons for me to have sex."

It felt like something dropped into the middle of the car and sucked all the words out of our throats, because I could see everyone just processing what I said and mumbling to themselves; but all I heard was the radio playing some repetitive pop song. We sat like that for twenty minutes, with music playing and nobody daring to speak. The music was pretty much just an excuse for us to not have to talk to each other, but I could tell everyone else was just mulling over the conversation we just had. They were deciding if I had lied, what may have gone differently if Jason and I hadn't met, whose fault it was, and whatever other questions they could think up. I knew they were because I was doing just that.

Jason shirted awkwardly in his seat as I cast him anxious glances. He still had his glasses on and still looked fine as hell, but he kept rubbing his face and reaching under his glasses to rub his eyes as he looked out the window. "Look-" I started, but Jason cut me off.

"No," he said as he turned to me. His face was red and his eyes were puffy. "Nico, I can't believe I-" he broke off as his voice cracked, but then he cleared his throat and regained his composure, "I never would have done...  _that_  if I had known it was your first time. I wouldn't have slept with you even if I was sober. I'm just not the type to have casual sex, ya know? If only I wasn't suck a horny drunk. I can't believe what that one night of bad decisions caused us."

Ouch. I tried not to look hurt, but that really wounded my ego, what ever ego I possessed. Piper spoke up finally. "Jason, he said he didn't give a shit. You making this such a big deal is a lot more stressful and tense than it need to be. Le's just forget about it, okay?"

I sighed in relief, Thanks Pipes, I thought, you saved us a ton of trouble. Then she turned to me and said, "But seriously, if you wanna talk, come to me. I know Jason means well, but he's kinda dense so he doesn't always know what to do when it comes to anything but being friends. I mean sure, he's great, don't get me wrong there, but if you ever need to tell him something you just have to say it. He doesn't get subtle hints."

I chuckled, but I had a feeling she has a hidden meaning buried in what she said. I gave her a look, be she just smirked and nodded at me, then Jason. I was seriously confused about what she was trying to say, but I pretended to get it. Jason started to defend himself saying, "Am not!"

"Oh yea?" Piper responded, "Who asked who out when you and Percy started dating?"

"Well, Percy," Jason replied, "but that's besides the point."

"No it's not," Reyna said. She hadn't talked in so long I'd forgotten she was driving. I wondered if she had just been listening to the conversation or if she was just too awkward to chime in. I couldn't decide which it may have been, so I comforted myself by choosing the latter.

"Yea Jason, I remember you whining about how you thought Percy liked Annabeth instead before he asked  _you_  out, "Piper said.

"I thought you 'forgot all about me and Percy'?" Jason said, obviously miffed she brought that up.

"Well, I remembered. Oh look, here's your hotel!" Piper said as Reyna pulled up to a Motel 6. That was _hardly_  a hotel.

"Wait," I asked as I leaned forward in my seat to get a good look at the motel, "I thought we were staying with you two."

"Nope," Reyna said. She smiled at Piper, who mouthed something that looked like "Jeans and Coats". It sort of sounded like that when a whisper of sound came out of her mouth as she mouthed the words to Reyna, who giggled. Those two were really weird. A perfect match.

I got out of the car and opened the trunk. Jason grabbed our things and I ran inside to check into our room.


	10. CHAPTER: 9 (Part 1)

**Here's your long awaited chapter 9! It was long and I haven't figured out where I'm going next, so I split it up into two parts. Don't expect an update for a while, because have finals this coming week and next. But then it's winter break after that, and since I'm doing like nothing, hopefully I will get a chapter or two in.**

JASON

I carried Nico's bags into the dirty Motel 6 lobby building, it was separate from the building with the rooms, while he stood in front of the check-in counter, waiting for the receptionist person. While I waited, I looked out the window to see if Piper and Reyna were still there, but the cherry red mustang was nowhere in sight. When whoever worked the counter finally returned, he had half a donut in his mouth and headphones in his ears. He looked surprised that anyone was at the counter and stuffed the other half of his diabetes circle in his face while he took out his headphones and paused the music. "How may I help you?" he said through the lump of sugar and bread in his mouth. Crumbs sprayed across the counter when he spoke.

Nico looked back at me for a moment, this dark green eyes connecting my own blue ones for a split second, then he quickly turned back around to the guy at the desk and said, "Hi, I'd like a room for the night; two queens."

The man at the counter looked at me, then Nico, and fished out a key card out of a drawer. He laughed under his breath and said, "Yea, I bet." I gave him a look, but he just took Nico's money and put his headphones in, chuckling to himself.

 Nico looked at me, confused, but I nudged him to the door instead. He looked down at the key card while we were walking to the room and said, "Hey Jason, it's 505. Isn't that your apartment number?" I nodded, but I wondered why he knew the number of my unit. I know I told him, but I didn't expect him to memorize it. But, I thought, maybe I should know  _his_  number. I mean, maybe it was normal for people to know this stuff. Maybe I was the bad friend.

Nico interrupted my thoughts by saying, "You alright, Jase?"

There it was again. Jase. God, I loved it when he called me that. I didn't know why, but it filled me up and made me warm inside. I just wanted to listen to him call me that all the time. The way he said it with that Italian accent just sent a zip of electricity through my spine.

But, ya know,  _no homo_.

Nico's voice caught my attention again. "Jason? Hello? Anybody home in that pretty blonde head of yours? I, um, I mean-"

"What? Oh yea, I'm fine. Let's go." I started walking again. I smiled when Nico turned back around and walked faster to the room. He was trying to shield himself from the crisp Autumn wind, but it didn't seem to help and he was shivering. If I had a jacket, I would have given it to him.

When we finally got to our room, I dropped our bags with a grunt. Those things get heavy if you carried them for too long. I shook out my arms and flopped down on the bed. Then, I sat up and looked around the room. "Nico?" I said as he turned the shower on.

"Yea?" he answered as his head peaked out of the door.

"Something seem missing to you?" I asked.

"I dunno, I made a beeline to the bathroom to shower. Didn't bother to look around."

"We're missing an extra bed."

"Wait," Nico said as he came out of the bathroom. His hair was wet and he had a towel wrapped around his waist. "Woah woah woah,  _what_?"

"Yea," I said gesturing around the room, "Unless it's invisible, I don't see one."

"Well," Nico said as he stepped back into the bathroom and turned the shower on, "You wanna go tell the guy at the counter?"

"But duuude," I answered back, "I don't wanna! How about we both go when you get out of the shower?"

"Okay," Nico said as I heard the shower curtain close.

***

"Oh come  _on_!" I said as we approached the building the lobby was in. The lights were off and the sign on the door said, "Lobby hours: 6am to 9pm"

I checked my watch. It read 9:10. I turned to Nico and said, "Ya know, it's your fault. You take  _such_  long showers!"

" _Me_?" Nico asked incredulously, "What about  _you_? You took a shower after me!"

"I didn't want to smell like a dirty gym bag when I talked to him!"

"Sure, whatever, but you didn't have to fix your hair  _and_  watch an episode of Jeopardy before we left!"

"I couldn't miss it," I retorted, "It was college night and a kid from my high school was on!"

"Whatever." Nico said as he started to run back in the direction of the room.

"Where are you going?" I yelled, still standing in the same place.

"Back to the room to lock you out!" he answered as he ran faster.

I summoned all of my athletic ability and sprinted after him. I would've been locked out if Nico hadn't messued up putting the keycard in the door. When I caught him, I spun him around so he faced me and pinned both of his arm above his head against the wall. The keycard fell out of his hands and to the floor, but I didn't make a move to grab it.

Nico looked up at me, this dark green eyes locked with my own blue ones, and he breathed a breath of hot hair that carried my name. I could just barely hear him whisper it, but clearly I felt the hot breath brush against my face and it put a tint on my cheeks. I tried to move, but I was still as a statue. So was Nico. He seemed to be expecting something, looking up hopefully at me, but whatever he was expecting didn't come because he pulled his arms from my grip. Then, he picked up the keycard and unlocked the door, swinging it open.

I was in shock for a moment, but I finally regained enough control of my body to stick my foot in the door and catch it before it closed. I let it shut itself while I grabbed my bag and began to rummage through it. I fished out a pair of sweatpants. I stripped my pants and tee shirt off of myself and put the sweatpants on, ready to get some sleep. It had been a long day.

As I laid down, Nico gave me a look as he put his pajamas on. I arched an eyebrow and he said, "Jason, why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

"What?" I replied, "You've seen me naked. Why do you care?" The truth was, I just wanted to mess with him. It was funny to see him get all flustered like that.

"I just... I just do, okay?" Nico replied hotly, his face reddening.

"Well, too bad," I answered. Nico huffed and scowled at the bed like it was his enemy. Eventually, he gave up and crawled in the bed. I reached over and turned off the light and, as I turned over, my hand brushed Nico's back. He tensed up for a moment and I realized it was the perfect opportunity to tease him some more.

I put my hand on his back and started to run my hand along it in a circular motion, which caused Nico to lean into my hand for a moment, but then stiffen and pull back. I replaced the empty spot on the nape of his neck with my hand and he made a slight sound in his throat not unlike the sound of purring, but quickly stopped. I smirked and inched my hand into his hair, playing with the curls. Finally, he turned over and said, "What the hell are you doing, Jason?"

"Nothing much. What about you?" I replied. Nico sighed deeply and rolled back over, defeated and too tired to care. I returned my hand to his hair and kept playing with it until I fell asleep.

_Nico's hot breath sent shivers down my spine as he planted his lips on my neck. I could smell the alcohol. My hands ran up and down Nico's back, almost too flustered to much else with them. Nico finally took his mouth off of my neck and I could see the bruise forming. I crashed my lips onto his, running my tongue along his lips. They parted and I flicked my tongue against his own, earning a small whimper and him leaning into me more than he already was. I pulled back, pulling Nico's bottom lip with my teeth and letting go._

_I pushed Nico down against the sheets and pillows of my bed and his eyes widened. I smirked before lowering my head to his stomach and leaving a kiss here and a lick there. Nico was more than enjoying himself and I wanted to go further. My hand gripped the elastic of Nico's boxers and pulled them down teasingly slow and Nico put both hands behind my head and pulled me back towards his own mouth. He was the one who pried my lips open this time and his tongue felt new, but exciting. Adventurous. I pulled back out of the kiss again and looked into Nico's eyes, indulging in the dark green color. His breath was hot and felt like steam on my lips and I knew my breath felt just the same on his face, too._

_Then Nico lowered his hands down my chest and my breath hitched. I hadn't expected him to take control. He slowly inched each hand down my chest and stomach and it was torture for me to try to not just throw myself at him. Each time I tried to get his hands to move faster, he just took them off. It was that simple. Then, when I stopped moving, he'd put them back and resume his agonizing pace towards my waistline. Finally, when he reached my boxers, he-_

I woke up in a cold sweat, panting hard and wide-eyed. Nico was still asleep next to me. Thank god I hadn't woken him up. I sat up and held my hand to my head. I really didn't want to be reminded of what I did to Nico and how horrible I am. Why  _now_  did I have to have my past slap me in the face and remind me of what I've done? Especially now that I knew that I had drunkenly stripped Nico of his virginity. I knew he had said it wasn't a big deal, but it was a pretty big deal. My stomach twisted in knots and I put my hands to my stomach as I groaned in pain. The guilt was getting to me. I decided a cold shower would help me wash off the feeling of wrongness off of me and stood up off the bed.

I walked to the bathroom and started the water, I didn't bother shutting the door, seeing as it was 6:45am. I took off my clothes and stepped into the shower, drenching myself in the chilly water. It felt refreshing, and actually kind of calming. But, as I ran my fingers through my hair, bits and pieces of my dream flashed through my head.

I clenched my eyes and pulled at my hair, slumping against the wall. How could I have been so  _stupid_? How could I have been so  _drunk_? I felt like garbage. My gut twisted again and the water felt less refreshing on my skin. It felt like icy daggers poking into my back, readying to give me the final blow. I closed my eyes and shivered, but I didn't turn off the water.

It helped wash the salt of tears off of my face and conceal the sound of my sobbing.


	11. CHAPTER: 9 (Part 2)

JASON

I groggily sat up in bed and looked around the room. I yawned as I turned my head, expecting to see Nico in the bed next to me, but he wasn't there. I stood up off of the bed and walked to the bathroom. The water wasn't running, so he wasn't taking a shower. I knocked on the door gently. "Nico?" I said. "You in there?" I didn't hear a response, so I pushed the door open. Nobody was inside.

I walked over to his side of the bed and, sure enough, his stuff was still there. Where could Nico have gotten off to so early? I checked my watch and saw it was 10:45. Oh, I thought, nevermind about the early part.

I looked at my phone and saw I had four messages. Three from Hazel and one from Nico.

**Hazel: (at 9:32) Hey Jason, I need to know when you and Nico are coming to my place for this afternoon. I have to clean and I want to be ready when you guys get here.**

**Hazel (at 10:03) Jason, I really need to know when you guys are getting here. Frank has to go to work soon and I need him to help clean.**

**Hazel (at 10:36) JASON, I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU'RE FUCKING MY BIG BROTHER INSTEAD OF TEXTING BACK I AM GOING TO SLIT YOUR THROAT.**

I texted back rather quickly upon seeing that message.

**Me: Oh my god Hazel I'm sooooooo sorry about that! I accidentally slept in and missed those messages. I had a rough night and didn't get to sleep until late. (That is not code for me fucking Nico, I just couldn't sleep)**

**Me: And how'd you find out about the whole me-and-Nico deal anyway?**

**Hazel: Piper told me.**

**Me: Somebody should muzzle her, I swear.**

**Hazel: I think Reyna already does, if ya know what I'm sayin'**

**Me: I prefer not to think about it...**

**Hazel: Tell me about it. So, when are you and Nico coming over?**

**Me: I'll get Reyna and Piper to pick us up around one o'clock**

**Hazel: Okay, see ya then!**

I checked Nico's text after reading Hazel's text back. I had my fingers crossed that his message was a text about where he had disappeared to. Maybe he went to get breakfast and got lost on his way there. Maybe he got locked out of the room and is sitting out in the hallway waiting for me. Maybe he got freaked out by how gay and weird I was acting last night and straight up left. I shook my head and pulled up Nico's text to finally find out what he was up to.

**Nico: Hey, I went for a run this morning and forgot to leave you a note, sorry. I'll pick up some breakfast while I'm out. Text me what you want or I'm just going to get a McDonald's hashbrown.**

My heart skipped a beat when he said he'd pick up breakfast.  _"_ Awwwww he thought of you!" the optimistic side of my brain said.

"He didn't even have to put any work into the gesture. Besides, he was probably going to pick up his own breakfast anyway," the pessimistic side of my brain said.

"He runs," the horny side of my brian said.

Just then, I heard a knock at the door and opened it to reveal a very sweaty Nico holding two bags from McDonald's and panting, still worn out from his run. The image sparked something in the horny side of my brain. I thought of Nico pinned up against the headboard of my bed, sweating and panting from my own actions instead of intense jogging. I shook my head and was lurcked back into realty to see a very confused Nico cocking his head to the side with his nose scrunched up.

I nervously laughed and moved out of the doorway, telling myself that, no, I didn't just imagine having very rough sex with Nico di Angelo. Nico gave me a confused look, but shrugged and pushed both of his McDonald's bags into my arms. "What, aren't you going to eat one?" I asked.

"Nah, I'm not hungry. Besides, I just ran and I don't think my stomach would agree with eating right now, even if I wanted to," Nico replied.

"Oh, thanks," I said as I sat down on the bed and opened up the bags.

"I got you a hashbrown and cinimelts," Nico said as he sat down next to me on the bed, "I hope that's alright. I also couldn't carry any drinks with me while I ran, so I figured you could just get some sink water."

"Oh yea, that's fine!" I answered, far too pleased at the fact that he thought of me to complain.

I dug into the food and, although it was McDonalds, I found myself enjoying it. I finished it quickly and stood up off the bed and grabbed a styrofoam cup, filling it with water. I downed it in record time and wiped my face off of the towel that was folded neatly on the counter. Nico turned to me and said, "By any chance, did Hazel text you today?"

"Yea, why?" I replied, turning around to face him.

"Well, she texted me while I was out on my run... making sure you weren't having sex with me," he stated awkwardly.

"Yea, I didn't get her texts so she thought we were... ya know..."

"Jason?"

"Yea?"

"Does this feel weird at all to you?"

"What do you mean?" I asked as I returned to my spot next to Nico on the bed.

"Well, I dunno, just that maybe I've been coming on too strong this whole time. I mean, we've only known each other for like four days now and we're like really close all of the sudden. I mean, isn't that kinda strange?"

"Well, I don't know about you, but for me that's a thing called bonding. It's where-"

"I  _know_  what bonding is, Jason."

"Well, then you should know that there are just some people in the world that you're just meant for. You just  _click_  with them all of the sudden and it feels like you've known them your whole life. We're just those types of people, we're meant for each other."

Saying that made my face and neck turn strawberry and I looked away from Nico. His cheeks and ears were a bright scarlet and he was looking down at his feet. Then, I felt the heat of Nico's skin press to the very tips of my fingers where his hand just barely touched them. I was almost certain they had not there before, but I didn't say anything. I didn't move either. I just sat there on the bed with Nico's hand just barely resting over mine.


	12. CHAPTER: 10

NICO

My whole face was red from the touch of Jason's fingertips. Did he even know my hand was there? Was he just ignoring it to be polite? I was about to say something, but was then cut off by my phone blasting Highway to Hell and I jumped off the bed with a yelp. I heard Jason chuckle and as I answered the phone I stuck my tongue out childishly at him. "Hello?" I said as I held the phone to my ear.

"Hey Nico!" Reyna said from the other end.

"Hey Reyna!" I answered, "Whatcha need?"

"I was just calling to see if you guys wanted to go into town to pick up some lunch with Piper and I," she answered.

"Well," I replied, "Jason just ate literally two minutes ago and I just went for a run so-"

"I can still go for food if that's what you're talking about!" Jason interrupted.

I sighed. "Okay, I guess we'll go eat with you guys. I'll just get a salad or something," I answered to the phone.

I heard Reyna tell Piper that'd we go, causing piper to shout, "Now we can get them to hook u-"

"Okay, we'll be there soon!" Reyna promised, shouting over Piper's excited yells. The line went dead. Reyna had hung up.

"Well that was weird," I speculated as I looked down at my phone in my hand.

"What was weird?" Jason asked.

"Nothing. Just Piper and Reyna," I answered.

"Well they're pretty weird so I wouldn't worry about it."

"True," I answered, "So what do you want to do while we wait for them?"

"I have this really addicting app on my phone and I'm stuck at level 25," Jason said as he pulled out his phone, holding it up to me. "Wanna try to help me beat it?"

***

"Damn this game!" I shouted as Jason practically drug me outside to meet Piper and Reyna. I'd beaten level 25, now I was stuck on level 31.

"Come on, Nico," Jason said as he snatched the phone away, making me lose the level. I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms, putting a grimace on my lips as I backed up to the cherry red car. I tried to look bad ass, but before I knew it I had ran into the car, falling sideways.

"Ouch," I said as I wiped off the tiny pebbles from my hands. My palms were scratched up and my finger was pricked with a dot of blood. I put the finger in my mouth and sucked on it to prevent it from bleeding anymore.

"Oh my god, Nico! Are you okay?" Jason asked as he held out his hand for me. I grabbed his hand with the hand that didn't have my spit on it and he pulled me up surprisingly fast. Damn, he's pretty strong. Jason smiled at me with a tug at the corner of his lips, causing my heart to miss a beat. I ducked my head and opened the car door, stepping inside.

"You okay, Nico?" Reyna asked.

"Yea, that looked pretty bad," Piper confirmed.

"Aw, it's nothing," I answered, "Just some scratched and a little pin prick of blood. Nothing to worry about."

"You sure?" Jason asked, his eyebrows knitted in concern.

"Yea, I'm sure. You ready to go to lunch?" I asked. Truly, my hands stung and I kept blinking to make sure I didn't tear up. I didn't, but I still kept blinking to make sure.

Reyna shifted the car into gear and, as we buckled into our seats, she sped off at a speed I'm 99.98% sure would have gotten us arrested on the highway, let alone a motel 6 parking lot.

***

When we finally stopped, I looked out the window to see where we were. My eyes rolled so much I could have sworn they rolled out my head. We were at a Carrabba's, of all places. "Do we  _really_  have to go here?" I asked. I sounded like a child, but I felt weird going to a Carrabba's now since that's were I went to stalk Jason before I knew him. Now that I knew him... it felt wrong on some level.

"Where are we?" Jason asked. He wasn't on my side of the car so he couldn't see where we were.

"Here," I said as I leaned away from my window, "see for yourself." Jason leaned over me, putting one hand on my left thigh and the other between my legs to support himself as he leaned to press his face against the glass of the window. How had I forgotten? He'd left his glasses on the nightstand at the motel and I doubted he could see the sign well.

I tried not to make it too awkward and stay still while Jason had his hands a little to close to me for comfort, but that didn't stop my face from turning bright red. Jason turned from the window and started to say something. When he turned and saw my face and how it was turning into a tomato, he looked down at his hands and pulled them back at light speed. He sat back and stared down at the floor as he stuttered an apology.

"So, um, Carrabba's huh?" I asked awkwardly, trying to divert attention away from that awkward moment.

"Yea," Jason said, "I guess so..."

Then Piper opened my door and said, "You two coming or should I just get you some wine and you can do it in here?"

"And that's my cue to get out " I said as I pushed my way past Piper and stepped out of the car. Jason soon followed, his face red and his blue eyes glaring daggers at Piper.

"I still don't know why we have to go to Carrabba's. I've been here so often I'm sick of the logo, let alone the food," Jason says, his voice icy and annoyed.

"Look," Reyna says, "you wanted to go eat. We're eating. Just calm down and suck it up."

"Fine," both Jason and I say at the same time. Piper puts a hand on our shoulders and pushes us through the doors. The intoxicating scent of garlic and cheese filled my nose and the smell sparked my memory from the night Jason and I had met.

It's almost like I'm back at the same restaurant I met Jason in. The glasses clanging and the hum of idle chatter from the tables drifted into my ears like it did then. I'm embarrassed as I remember Jason skeptically checking my ID, me inviting him to sit at my table to talk, and me getting too drunk to drive home. My mind wanders to after dinner when I got to his house. Then, to the memory of the feeling of his lips pressed to my neck in feverous drunken lust and my voice letting out a breathy moan.

"-Nico!" Reyna hissed in my ear as she nudged my arm. I was shook out of my daze and saw Piper, Jason, Reyna, and our hostess looking at me.

"W-what?" I asked.

"You coming? We're going to our seats."

"Uh, yea. I just spaced out, that's all," I answered as I smiled at the hostess. She flashed a grin at everyone and led us to our booth. It felt nice to not be sitting alone at a Carrabba's but I was still quite uncomfortable with being here.

When the hostess left, everyone at the table started to laugh, trying to keep their volume down to not draw attention. "W-what's so funny guys?" I asked, not wanting to hear the answer.

Between laughs Piper managed to squeeze out, "You-oh my god it's too funny-you were... Reyna you do it. I-I can't."

Reyna sucked in a few deep breaths of air to calm herself down. She manage to calm her laughs to a minimal giggle between words, saying, "Ya know earlier when you were 'spaced out'?"

"Uh, yea...," I answered. I knew where this was heading and I didn't want to hear it.

"You moaned."

"Shit," I muttered, "was it loud?"

"Not too loud," Reyna assured me, "but noticeable."

"What were you thinking about, anyway?" Piper asked.

"Nothing," I muttered. I glanced at Jason, who had been awkwardly laughing along with the girls, and made eye contact with him for a split second. I looked away and stared at the table, realizing that I had just dug a pit for myself since Piper wasn't going to stop asking.

As if on cue, Piper said, "Oh come on. It  _certainly_  wasn't 'nothing'. Tell me!"

 "I really don't want to-"

"Come on, Nico! What's got you so worked up, huh?"

"Please, don't-"

"Nico," Piper said, "tell me what-"

"Piper," Reyna interrupted seriously, "it was clearly embarrassing for him. We shouldn't press for it if he doesn't want to answer." Piper stopped trying for an answer and a silence settled over the table. Our waiter walked over and took our orders, which we mumbled out, and once they walked away we were silent again.

 "Nico," Jason whispered into my ear. The way the breath puffed into my ear made me squirm.  Piper and Reyna both had their phones out so they didn't notice Jason talking to me. I was glad because I was starting to get a suspicion that those two knew damn well what happened that last time I was at a Carrabba's with Jason and it was making me nervous.

"Yea?" I answered.

"Can you come to the bathroom to talk? I don't want Piper and Reyna listening in on us."

"Um, yea. Sure." I stood up and walked to the bathroom, with Jason trailing not too far behind. When we got inside, I turned around to face Jason. "What did you need?"

"Well, Piper and Reyna are really freaking me out. They're taking us to  _Carrabba's,_  made us sleep in a motel room together when they have enough room at their home to let us crash, and they keep making us sit together all the time-"

"I know, right? I'm starting to think they want us to get together or something," I said. As I said it, I realized how true that must be. And how much I wanted them to succeed.

"Yea, I know what you mean. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going crazy," Jason answered, relief spreading across his face. "Let's just try to stick it out until we get to Hazel's."

"Yea," I said as I nodded to Jason, "Let's just stick it out until we get to Hazel's."

***

JASON

The rest of the meal had passed uneventfully, with us eating our pasta with little conversation drifting between us. When we finished, Nico and I piled into the back seat of Reyna's car and we drove off. We arrived at Hazel's at around 1:20 with two bottles of wine. Hazel shook her head at the wine, mostly because she wouldn't be turning 21 for a few months, but allowed Piper to bring it in.

When I stepped inside, I took a moment to take in Hazel and Frank's apartment. It was a fairly small place with a couch and chair surrounding a coffee table at one end of the room. At the end of the room closer to the door was a coffee table with four chairs around it. Behind that was a cute kitchenette that had a sink half full of dishes. By the "living room" area was a hallway that had three doors. I guessed that two leaded to a bathroom and bedroom. "Maybe," my mind guessed, "a closet is behind the other." That sounded plausible. 

As I was observing the apartment, Hazel appeared in my vision and grinned. She ran to hug Nico, shouting an excited, "Oh my god, Nico!" Nico hugged back enthusiastically and was smiling into her braids, "It's  _so_  great to see you! I haven't seen you since... well, since you and Will. By the way, how are they?"

"Well, you know that we broke up. But, yea they live next door. It's good except their poorly played guitar riffs keep me up at night," he answered.

"Oh," she answered, "well you've gotta catch me up on your life! Jason said you've got a nice apartment in Santa Cruz! That city's nice."

"Well yea," he answered, "but how are you and Frank? Is he treating you well?"

"Nico!" she said as she playfully nudged him, "Of course he has!" Hazel turned towards me and hugged me. Despite her being nearly a foot and a half taller than me, she barrelled me over. "Jason!" she squealed, "It's been, what, a year or two now? God, you should call more! The first time I hear from you in a month and I hear you fucked my brother!" Hazel said with a laugh. I knew it was supposed to be a joke, but I felt my cheeks and ears turn from rosy to scarlet. I didn't like to really talk about that night with Nico.

"I know, I know. I should call more. But it was even weirder for me to find out you  _knew_  Nico!" I answered. I looked over at Nico and smiled. He had on a simple pair of light wash jeans and a Fall Out Boy tee shirt, but they suited him nicely. Even though he wasn't the stereotypical brooding punk, he pulled off the look. Maybe is he didn't have such a cute demeanor 

 At the corner of my mind, I heard Hazel saying something, nudging me roughly in the side. "-Jason! Hello? Jason? Anyone home?" I was snapped back to reality and diverted my eyes from Nico to look at her.

"Uh, yea? What'd you say? Sorry, I was staring off into space," I answered.

"Yea, okay. 'Staring off into space'. Okay..." Hazel said as Reyna and Piper laughed behind me. I bet they had seen me staring at Nico (curse his gorgeous face) and mentally kicked myself for being so weird around it.

"But," my brain chimed in, "it's not like you like him or anything. It's not like you were staring at him or anything. It's not like you slept with him or anything." I clenched my fists in frustration as my mind said that. I mean, sure my stomach got butterflies when I looked at him and his smile is hypnotic, but I don't like him. It's just an awkward friendship.

"Anyway, Jason," Hazel said after her and the girls finished laughing. I glanced at Nico. He wouldn't meet my eyes. My throat clogged with guilt and I looked at Hazel again. "I asked if you knew I invited Percy, Annabeth, and Leo to come tonight."

My stomach dropped just as my jaw did the same thing. Even though Percy and I hadn't had a horrible break up, we haven't talked since I moved from New York to Santa Cruz after he broke up with me. It was pretty brutal emotionally, at least for me, so he's at least mad at me for ignoring him if not also moving to the other end of the country and cutting him from my life.

As for Annabeth, she was cool. The last time I had seen her was when she was at a party in Percy's dorm. She had told me she was an aromantic bisexual, which I hadn't heard of before, so she explained it to me. I had clapped her on the back and said, "You do whatever makes you happy. I know that's what happened with me and Percy." She was grateful for that. If only Percy hadn't broken up with me hours after that causing me to leave town and find one of the farthest places away from Percy I could possibly live in. Because she's been Percy's best friend since forever, she probably hates me.

Leo I hadn't seen since I had moved to New York with Percy. He gave me my first joint, actually. I hoped he had kicked his drug habit, but I doubted it. Last I had seen him, he and his girlfriend were talking about going back to his hometown to open up some tool shop and a garden or something. He had talked about it once or twice, but when I was with him I was usually so shitfaced I couldn't understand basic English.

"That isn't good," I heard Piper and Reyna murmur behind me and Piper put a hand on my arm to comfort me. Truly, she and Reyna are my only friends that I've had since high school. They both knew about the whole deal I had with everyone and actually lived with me when I moved to Santa Cruz to keep me on my feet. I've been dreading the day I'd have to see Leo, Percy, or Annabeth but I never imagined all three of them in one place.

"I'm sorry," Hazel said. "I didn't know. I thought you've known them since high school. Oh my god, this is a disaster!"

"No, Hazel, it's not. I think I can bare them for a night. Besides, I really need to settle my past with them," I replied sternly.

"Um," Nico's voice interrupted, "what's all this about? I mean I haven't seen them in a long time, but I'm happy about seeing them again. What happened between you and the others, Jason?"

"It's kinda personal, Nico," I said, "I'll tell you on the ride home."

"Oh," Nico said and his shoulders slumped, "okay."

"Nico," I said as I put a hand on his shoulder and made him look at me, "I just don't want to relive all that with them coming over soon. I promise I'll tell you, okay? Just not now."

"Alright, that sounds good," Nico said, perking up a bit.

"So," Hazel asked, causing Nico and I to turn to her, "who's ready to help me set up the best awkward reunion party this apartment building has ever seen?"

"Me!" Piper, Reyna, Nico, and I answered in excitement.

"Well, let's get to work!" Hazel shouted.


	13. CHAPTER: 11

**Sorry about the super long wait, guys! I've had a lot written out, but not the urge to actually transfer it. I hope this makes up for it to some degree. I plan to be updating the next chapter a bit faster, so bear with me. It'll probably be the last update until summer, so then I'll have all the time in the world to write after that. If the chapter doesn't make up for it, I'll let you guys in on a little secret. I'm writing a spin the bottle scene in the next chapter. And a lot of pining. So, stay tuned! (Omg I sound like a TV show...)**

 

JASON

After cleaning up the apartment a bit more, Piper set out whatever alcohol she could find. She kept taking sips of our wine and sneaking so many cans of beer that she got totally smashed before Percy, Annabeth, or Leo even arrived.

When I finally heard a knock at the door, my heart dropped. I had spent an hour or two preparing for them, but I was still scared. I didn't make a move to answer the door. Nico came up next to me and smiled. He grabbed my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. It sent a jolt throughout my entire body and, somehow, the courage to answer the door. Before Nico could let go from my hand, I squeezed it and gently pulled him to the door with me. His hand in mine gave me the ability to face anything. I felt like I could fly.

Nico followed me to the door and gave my hand one last squeeze and said, "Hurry up, Jason. They're waiting." I opened the door with a forced smile and was greeted with a five and a half foot Latino standing at the doorway.

Leo grinned up at me, throwing his arms around me and saying, "It's been way too long, Jace!" I squeezed him into a hug and smiled down at him excitedly. How had I forgotten how fun and easy going Leo is? Why would I think he would be mad at me for moving to NYC to stay with someone I loved? He's been in love before and he'd understand.

"Leo, it's so great to see you again! It really has been too long," I replied.

"Yes it has been. Calysta wanted to see you again, but she's pregnant and she thought all the travel and the heat would be bad for the baby. Not like it's much worse here than Houston, but you know how she is," Leo answered. It was like I never left, the way he talked to me. It felt bizarre but at the same time refreshing. But this is probably going to be the one pleasant reunion of the evening.

"Calysta's pregnant? Wow! It's yours, right?" I joked. Leo laughed along with Nico and Hazel. Piper was sitting on the couch, being restrained from doing anything dumb by Reyna. I may be a horny drunk, but Piper is a stupid drunk. Last time she was drunk, I had to get a new coffee machine from her throwing it out the window to try and hit Micheal Kahale's Porsche. He was the security guard for my building and had a habit of making sexual comments at Piper and Reyna when they came over. He may have been a jerk, but I still don't see why Piper had to throw 100 of my dollars out the window. (Literally)

"Yes it's mine, Jason. Stop laughing Hazel, it is too mine! Oh yea? Well-"

"Leo, chill! Were just joking. But I want to know how you've been since I left. How's Houston treating you?"

"Better than when I was a kid. I opened up a machine shop and Calysta is the manager of a gardening shop. It's really great to see her working with the flowers and talking to each person that comes in. She's so nice to everyone and really tries to be genuine with everyone there. Seeing her work reminds me why I love her," Leo answered. His voice was different when he talked about Calysta. She must be a pretty special girl to him to get him to act like that. He only ever used that voice for his machines back in high school. Granted, he really liked Calysta back then too. But now his feelings have matured into a genuine love for her. I hoped I would one day feel like that.

"Aww, that's really sweet. She must be pretty special, huh?"

"You can't even imagine! So, is this your boy toy?" Leo said, gesturing to Nico, "Don't think I missed that hand holding when I opened the door!"

"Um..." I stuttered as I tried to arrange my thoughts into words.

"No," Nico said, "we aren't- no. We just... no. Just no." Okay, not going to lie. All those no's bruised my ego a bit.

"Well," Reyna interrupted, "they did fuck a few days ago." My face turned into a strawberry at that.

"Well," Nico interrupted, "it's more like-"

"Hey," Leo said, "let's have this craziness sorted out when Percy and Annabeth get here. They were driving right behind me, but Percy made a liquor stop just before getting here so give them just a moment. No need to explain everything a second time."

"Well come over here and grab a beer if you want. Well actually don't because I'm guessing you drove here yourself. Well actually, have one because you all are welcome to stay the night. It's no fun being DD," Hazel said with a chuckle. Reyna turned and nodded at her like it was such a struggle to be DD and that Hazel was a godsend.

"Thanks, Haze," Leo said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, "I really appreciate it!"

"Really," Hazel said as she leaned towards Leo and pretended she was whispering but continued in a normal voice, "I just want to get Nico and Jason drunk so they'll talk about all their repressed feelings." Piper laughed uncontrollably at that while Leo and Reyna laughed along with her.

Nico sighed and playfully shoved Hazel. "Look," he said as he sat down and grabbed a beer out of the cooler on the table, "there are no 'repressed feelings' or anything like that. Jason and I got drunk and had sex. Big whoop. The only good thing is now we're friends and it's cool hanging out with him. He's a nice dude. Besides, if there were repressed feelings, Jason would be the one spilling. I'm pretty great." Nico flipped his hair jokingly and struck a pose on the couch. We all laughed along with him, but secretly that was the reason I was going to hold back on the beer. If I didn't, I'd be all over Nico.

I sat back on the couch and leaned against Reyna, who was taking care of Piper and her drunk ass. Everything was going far better than I expected. Leo hadn't freaked out for he leaving him, Nico wasn't hating me for stealing his virginity (in fact he didn't seem to care that I even slept with him. Whether or not that's a good thing, I had yet to decide), and Piper and Reyna weren't desperately trying to get me to fuck Nico. Finally, I could relax. Finally, I could just take it easy and get to know Nico.

I heard a knock on the door and my heart dropped to my feet. "Looks like it's time to face your fears," my mind said.

"Hey," I heard Nico say as he grabbed my hand reassuringly, "we'll get through this together, okay?" I nodded to him and we both stood up to answer the door.

My hand tentatively grabbed the knob and I looked back at everyone sitting on the couch. Hazel was smiling nervously, gesturing for me to twist the knob. Reyna held up two thumbs for support.

I steeled my nerves and took a deep breath. I reached forward and turned the handle with a forced welcoming grin. In the door stood 6 feet of amazing dark skin, ruffled black hair that smelled like my favorite cologne, and beautiful aquamarine eyes you could happily drown in. My facade dropped the moment he looked at me. "Hi, Percy," I managed to breath out.

"Oh my god... Jason, I... I'm _so_ sorry," Percy said. His beautiful aqua eyes were pleading with me to forgive him. How could I not? I didn't want to, but he looked so sorry and so ashamed that, in a way, I was forced to. I wanted someone to stay mad at, someone to blame for my relationship problems, but there wasn't really anything to blame Percy for. He broke up with me and I was so embarrassed that I had given everything up for him and moved to New York that I refused to get any closure. If anything, what had happened between us was my fault, and I shouldn't be antagonizing Percy over it.

It shocked me that just one regretful and ashamed look from Percy could make me realize so much. Maybe that was one of the reasons I had fallen in love with him. Maybe that's why my heart still jumped in my chest when he looked at me.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry for, Percy. I never should've left things like I did. Is there any way we could start over? I know what I did was kind of a douche thing to do and I never should have made you feel like you were the one in the wrong. You were such a good friend - a fantastic boyfriend, too - and I don't know how long I can stand losing you," I forced out. It felt so horrible to swallow my pride and admit that I was wrong, but I felt lighter after that. Percy grinned with that winning smile I had fallen for as a teenager and wrapped me in a hug as hard as he could without hurting me. Annabeth, who had been anxiously watching us, smiled and hugged us both.

"You idiots," she said with a laugh, "I'm so happy we finally sorted this out. Don't even get me started on how much Percy was talking about you the flight down here."

"You don't know _the half of it_ , Annie," Piper drunkenly slurred from the couch, "Jason has been going on and on about Percy for, like, ever!" I groaned. Piper talked way too much when she was drunk.

Nico looked up at Percy and I, confused but smiling. Percy's eyes lit up with recognition and he grinned from ear to ear. "Nico!" he said as he picked Nico up in a hug that lifted Nico off the floor, "It's been so long! How's Bianca? I haven't seen her since Middle School."

Nico stared at Percy for a brief moment. His eyes flickered with pain for a moment, but he blinked and it was like it never happened. "She's doing alright, thanks for asking. I'll have to tell her you said hi." Percy smiled and clapped Nico on the back.

"You tell her I miss babysitting with Thalia and her, okay?" Percy replied. Clearly, he didn't know what had happened to Bianca and Nico wasn't willing to share. I huffed uncomfortably and scratched the back of my neck. I decided to wander over to the vacant couch and take a seat. I grabbed a beer off of the table and sipped it as I heard Nico being briefly interrogated by Percy.

Eventually, Nico joined me on the couch. He grabbed a beer as well. I looked over at him as he sipped the drink and my heart dropped. His eyes were glazed, he demeanor was noticeably more closed off, and from the look on his face he probably felt like he got the living shit kicked out of him.

 "Not even five minutes into the party and you're both cradling beers and feel like shit," I thought. Tonight was going to be a long night.


	14. CHAPTER: 12

NICO

"You need to talk about it?" Jason asked cautiously. He looked concerned and, as he stared me down, it felt like I had my own personal psychologist to talk to. I wanted to talk to him, to bleed my heart out, to spill my guts to him, but something inside me kept my mouth shut.

That "something" was named Percy.

Percy and all his dumb questions. It's not like he  _knew_  Bianca was in the hospital, but I'll be damned if every time he smiled when he brought up my sister it didn't hurt. "No," I replied. Besides, everyone was right here. Best not to talk about my past in this type of setting where they could hear me.

Jason looked disappointed. I can't say he didn't have the right to be, though. He looked just as bad as I felt and I knew he wasn't going to talk about it either, so I didn't bother asking. I was disappointed in myself for not asking. "But it's okay, Nico," my brain said, "he probably only asked because you were making him feel awkward with your moping and beer chugging."

***

The next few hours went by at a sluggish and depressing pace. At some point, Frank had showed up after work, saying something about having a workplace emergency and they had only needed him for a few hours. I hadn't really payed attention.

Something inside me kept whispering horrible thoughts to me while I watched everyone have a good time. I was an outsider among these eight. They were all High School buddies. They knew each other for years. I only really knew Hazel and Reyna well. Everyone else I either haven't spoken to in years or I've just met. I slowly got more closed off and depressed as the night wore on. I knew people were getting concerned and I tried to stay chipper, but the more everyone else talked the more I felt outcasted; invited more as a formality.

After a few hours, Percy announced spin-the-bottle. I wasn't really up for it, but everyone else insisted I play with them. I wouldn't have sat down had Jason not given me puppy eyes and Hazel begged and offered to make me cake to take home. I tried to tell myself that since everyone wanted me to be there it meant that I was wanted, but I couldn't do it. Jason saw my face and excused himself from the game for a moment, promising that when he got back he would spin immediately. He grabbed my arm gently, and led me into Hazel's bedroom.

As he shut the door, he cocked an eyebrow and said, "Okay, Nico. I need to know what's going on. You look like you just got the shit kicked out of you."

"You really know how to make a boy feel special, don't you?" I joked. Okay, so maybe I was more drunk than I had planned to be.

"I'm being serious, Nico. If something's going on, you need to tell me."

"Fine."

"Really? You're going to tell me just like that?"

"What? Did you expect to have to reach your arm down my throat and pull the answers out yourself? Besides, I may be more drunk than originally planned. I'm more open when I'm like this."

"Tell me about it," Jason muttered.

"Well you want to know the reason?" I asked, by arms opening in a clumsily wide gesture made worse by my drunkenness.

"Yes." Jason said. His expression was concerned and full of pity. I hated it, but I really needed some pity at the moment. It felt good to be coddled and fussed over every now and again.

"Percy. Him going and asking all these dumb questions and not knowing about Bianca is killing me. He's just as kind and thoughtful and  _horrifically oblivious_ as I remember him," I whispered, trying to keep my voice down. I was mad at Percy, but I couldn't bring myself to voice it very loudly. It felt like I was betraying the younger me that has a crush on him.

"Is that it?" Jason asked gently. I sighed.

"No... I guess I'm starting to feel like I'm an outcast. You all are having fun and talking together and I'm just over here and I don't know what to say. And I keep telling myself these horrible, awful things and I don't really know why. I thought I wasn't depressed anymore but I did this when I was depressed and I'm scared it's coming back, Jason. You guys don't hate me, right?" I asked helplessly. Jason looked at me for a long moment, blinking. He looked like a deer trapped in headlights. Finally he closed his eyes and sighed.

He opened them and said, "Well I don't know how much counseling I can do here. Tomorrow, we're going to sit down and have a talk about your feelings. I think that's what best for your health. But I want you to know that all of us here care about you. We want you here and we're glad you came. If I were honest, half of our conversations were about you."

"Thanks Jason. We'll talk more tomorrow," I replied, "But you've got to tell me what your deal is too. Don't think I haven't noticed that you look like shit."

Jason straightened up that that. He looked mildly offended that I had suggested he was anything but okay. "Oh, come on Jace. It's not all that subtle. You may be acting social, but I can tell you feel like shit."

"Fine," Jason replied, "We'll talk tomorrow. Sounds like a plan." Jason reached his hand out and I stared at it. It took me a moment to realize that he wanted me to shake it. I put my hand out and he grabbed it in a firm shake. His hand touching mine sent jolts of happiness through my whole body.

When he let go, I couldn't help that wave of joy and relief when it surged through my body. I hugged Jason tightly. When he wrapped his arms around me, I smiled into his shoulder and said, "Seriously Jason. Thanks." Jason didn't reply, but squeezed me harder.

When we let go, I turned to the door and walked out to join everyone in their circle. They smiled when we came out, but nobody asked any questions. I had a good feeling that they thought we were up to something a little more riské when we were in Hazel's room. I wanted to tell them that, no, we didn't do anything gross in my sister's room, but I felt like if I said anything it would just confirm it. So instead I walked over to the circle of people and found an open space for me to sit down at.

Jason sat between Hazel and Annabeth while I was between Leo and Percy. It wasn't the most comforting place for me to have sat down but, truth be told, I wanted to sit across from Jason. I tried to convince myself that it was purely because he would give me reassuring smiles and hold a thumbs up to me when nobody was looking, but that wasn't it at all.

I wanted to sit across from him so if he spun on me it would be easier to kiss him.

JASON

Piper held me true to my word and, the second I sat down, slung an empty beer bottle into my lap. "Start us off, Blondie!" she grinned.

I sighed and gave the bottle a turn with a flick of my wrist. It stopped at Hazel. I leaned forward and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips. Piper gave me a look that said  _that should be Nic_ o, but I ignored it.

At few turns passed. Reyna and Frank kissed, Percy and Piper kissed, Nico and Annabeth kissed, and I had kissed Leo. So far, it was pretty boring. All the kisses had been platonic and short, soon leading to our boredom.

It didn't help when almost everyone at the party had ADHD. In fact, in High School we had all met in an ADHD "support group" that the school made us attend so we could "meet other people like us". It wasn't just us in that group, but we stuck to each other more than we did the others.

"I've got an idea," I heard Reyna devilishly purr. She had an idea, and I knew it was going to lead to bad decisions. "How about with every person you kiss, you take a shot of vodka?"

My stomach dropped to my feet. How was I supposed to keep my cool around Nico when I was shitfaced drunk? I gulped, knowing where this was headed, but agreed. I had nothing else better to do and, besides, I had a 1/8 chance that my bottle would land on Nico. Maybe it'd be before I was plastered.

I was plastered after 3 shots. I'd already had 2 cans of beer and hadn't planned on having anymore alcohol, so those shots sent me over the edge of tipsy to drunk.

I put my hand on the bottle, spinning it with a clumsy flick of my wrist. As I watched it spin, I wondered what it would be like if the bottle landed on Nico.  _Would the kiss be sweet? Would it be passionate? Would it surpass all of my wildest midnight dream fantasies?_

I was so caught up on thinking about Nico that when it landed on him, I was still staring off into la-la land.

" _Ahem!_ " Piper cleared her throat loudly, snapping me out of my daydream. I looked up and saw Nico staring at me.

"He's waiting for you to make the first move, you dumbass," my brain chided. Then, like the gears in my mind started moving again, I started leaning forward to kiss Nico di Angelo.


End file.
